Implementing Backscatter Radio for Wireless Sensor Networks

We provide an overview of our experimental system, testing in practice a sensor communicating through backscatter at a range of approximately 15 meters indoors, with 5 mW transmission power at 10 bits per second. Our system is designed for simultaneous reception of signals continuously radio-backscattered from several ultra low-cost sensors. This work highlights the idiosyncracies of the backscatter channel and presents a proof- of-concept demonstration of backscatter radio for wireless sensor networks, especially when low bit-rate, ultra low-cost sensors are required.